Detachment of the Number 13
by miratex
Summary: Ever wonder why Hiko Seijuro 13th hates the outside world? Or where he came from and how he learned the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu?.... basically a story thats my take on Hiko's past up to the point that he meets Kenshin....
1. April 18 1844: Afternoon of Detachment

Well… a few notes about my story. Since no one really knows Hiko's really name, I made one up (Soka is just a nickname which his mother calls him…). I don't remember what the name means off hand but if anyone wants to know I can look it up. This is my first fanfiction, reviews would be nice I suppose- I'm not really a writer but this idea just came to me and I decided not to let it go to waste. I'm sorry if there are any grammar errors, I tried my best to proofread, but we all make mistakes sometimes. Thanks…

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it would be nice if I did, but alas I don't - so please don't sue me….

April 18, 1844: Afternoon of Detachment

Soka-chan… you must take this letter and go live the rest of your life with your father…"

"But why mommy? Why can't I stay with you?"

With struggled breath the mother manages a reply. "Soka, my time is short, my body is so weak that it has already given up, my breath is only coming because if the will of my spirit… I love you Soka and in my heart I wish nothing more than to stay with you…"

"Why does it have to be this way?"

"Soka please just go and live your life with your father."

"But Mommy, I want to stay with you!"

"Please just go!" Several tears escape her eyes and crawl down her face. The young boy stands up, eyes focused on the floor as he goes to leave. He hesitates in the door way.

"… I love you Soka."

"I love your too mommy…"

The woman closes her eyes, not wanting to have her last memory be her son leaving her forever.

The boy exits the small isolation room of the clinic and passes the doctor on his way out the door. The doctor watches the boy with sadness in his eyes. He carries a neatly folded letter, an address printed with precision along the top and a blank starring expression across his face. Only eight, he was too young to fully understand his situation, too young to really understand death. The doctor sighs as he walks into the small recently exited room containing the woman with her eyes closed awaiting death. 

"Did he leave yet?"

"Yes" 

"Hmmm…" She sighs out her last breath as the doctor picks up her limp wrist. He counts off her pulse.

'1…2…...3……….'

The doctor looks down at the woman, peaceful in eternal sleep, sighs and pulls the sheet over her head. 


	2. April 18, 1844: The Night of Fragile Sil...

Here's the second chapter…it takes place on the same day as the first chapter (I just realized that I forgot to put a date on the first chapter, I guess I should fix that…). For those of you who wanted to know the name I made up for Hiko means something like secretive beauty of dawn (I'm not sure how accurate that baby name website was though…) I promise the chapters will get longer after this, its just that the first 2 chapters seemed better to me when they were separated (the first chapter is in a different point of view also because its kinda just setting the scene- the rest of the story should be in 3rd person.)

Blaze Coyotlhart- Thanks for the review! I know that Hiko used the name Kakunoshin Niitsu after he became a potter, but since it didn't say that it was his real name I decided to make one up. Mostly though I know I wouldn't want to keep writing that name over and over cause its kinda long (I usually write everything by hand first…). But thanks so much for the information and the review!

Gouki- Thanks! I'm glad you think my story is interesting so far (although I haven't really written too much yet but I have it all planned out) and thanks for the review. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it would be cool if I did, but I don't. Please don't sue me….

April 18, 1844: The Night of Fragile Silence

            Hisoka Akemi had barely noticed anything on his solitary walk after he left the clinic that night. He had wandered back to his house because subconsciously he couldn't bring himself to just leave without at least taking a change of cloths with him. The sun was already lying very low on the horizon as Soka sat down to eat the few scraps of food he scrounged up which didn't need to be cooked. He ate them in a very robot like fashion, staring straight ahead, eating just because his instincts told him to. The house was so empty without his mother's presence, the silence felt as if it was strangling him. He could barely get any food down his constricting throat. 

Daylight was starting to wane as Soka crept around the house fearing that one loud noise would cause the fragile silence to shatter. He neatly folded the two other sets of cloths he owned and placed them in the bag his mother frequently had used when she went shopping. He didn't take anything else, all of his other belongings seemed trivial, but it wasn't like he had much of value anyway. His mother was the most important thing to him and it had always seemed like he didn't need anything else with her around. 

He held his breath as he reached out to open the screen to his mother's room. The small room was the only truly separate room in the whole house. It was dimly lit with the last few rays of the setting sun that peaked through the single window. Her light flowery perfume still hung in the air and it wafted around Soka as he walked to the opposite side of the room. He ran his fingers over the simple silk of the kimono his mother had laid out to wear next day. She always did things like that; she always wanted to be prepared. Several tears dripped off his cheeks at that thought and soaked into the delicate silk leaving dark perfectly circular spots in their places. She had laid out her favorite hairpin to wear the next day as well. He hesitated to touch it, but got enough courage to rest his fingers on top of it before closing his hand around it and placing it in his bag with his cloths.

He took a deep breath and turned around to leave as quietly as he had come but his eyes suddenly blurred with tears and he collapsed onto his mother's futon. Her perfume was the strongest there. Sobs rattled his tall yet still childlike frame and he fisted his hands in the blankets. 

"Why?" he choked shakily. Memories of the previous night flashed violently in his head. The samurai had no reason to attack his mother. She had done nothing to him and probably had never met the man before. 

Soka's mother had always tried to protect him as much as possible from the horrors of the world in which they lived. She knew the dangers of living in the pleasure district, and she knew what the others in the upper classes thought of them, but she didn't dare to let Soka know these things. Many Samurai thought that she and others like her were expendable and wouldn't hesitate to test out a new sword, or work on their killing skills. Not that all Samurai were bad in her mind, but she knew that these kinds of killings happened too often. Liking to be prepared she carried a letter on her person for her son just in case something happened to her. This way he would know to go to his father, she just prayed that the man would have the compassion to take the child in.

'Why didn't I try and protect her? Why couldn't he have killed me too…' His mother's injuries hadn't seemed that bad to him at the time when a passerby had helped him carry her to the clinic, but now he regretted not walking faster. Soka's sobs started to slow down as he started to drift off into a dazed sleep state. He was so mentally and physically exhausted that for the first time in his life he cried himself to sleep.


End file.
